Ken Garen, CPA, Co-Founder and President, UBCC

Tesla Unveils $35,000 Model 3 Sedan By BILL VLASIC JULY 29, 2017     FREMONT, Calif. — The electric-car maker Tesla unveiled the first of its Model 3 sedans on Friday as the company drew closer to introducing the vehicle — which is priced for mainstream consumers — into the American market. In a ceremony at Tesla’s factory complex near San Francisco, the company’s chief executive, Elon Musk, delivered the initial Model 3s off the assembly line to 30 employees chosen to be the model’s first owners. It was a pivotal moment in Tesla’s evolution from a manufacturer of luxury electric vehicles into a producer of mass-market cars. The company has yet to specify when it will begin selling the Model 3, priced at $35,000, to the half-million prospective buyers who have reserved cars with $1,000 deposits. But Mr. Musk said the vehicle would officially go on sale soon, the fruition of his ambitious goal to make electric cars available to a broad range of consumer...

Court Rules Against Politician Who Banned Access to Her Facebook Page Facebook page of Virginia county politician is forum protected by the First Amendment, judge says By Joe Palazzolo July 27, 2017 1:30 p.m. ET A federal court in Virginia ruled that a local politician violated the free-speech rights of a constituent she banned from her Facebook page, in a case the judge said raises “important questions” about the constitutional restrictions that apply to social media accounts of elected officials. The ruling by U.S. District Judge James Cacheris in Alexandria, Va., could buttress a lawsuit in New York alleging that President Donald Trump unconstitutionally suppressed dissent by blocking Twitter users from following his account. President Trump’s frequent use of Twitter has added urgency to First Amendment questions revolving around the use of social media by public officials. In the Virginia case, Brian Davison sued the chairwoman of the Loudoun County Board o...

Intelligent Machines China Plans to Use Artificial Intelligence to Gain Global Economic Dominance by 2030 The country’s government has announced a scheme to surpass Western nations and shape the future of AI. ·         by  Will Knight July 21, 2017 ·           Though it is not yet as advanced as AlphaGo, Chinese researchers have developed their own Go-playing AI champion, called FineArt. Artificial intelligence may have been invented in the West, but China seems determined to own its future. Its rising AI community just got a tremendous shot in the arm, in the form of a massive new government investment plan. The State Council of the People’s Republic of China has announced a  bold scheme  (link in Chinese) meant to build an AI industry worth $150 billion, and to make China  the global leader in the field by 2030 . Details of the plan are sure to cause consternation a...

DeepMind's AI has learnt to become 'highly aggressive' when it feels like it's going to lose In social situations, two AIs will also work together if the outcome benefits them both By MATT BURGESS Thursday 9 February 2017 Artificial intelligence changes the way it behaves based on the environment it is in, much like humans do, according to the latest research from DeepMind . Computer scientists from the Google-owned firm have studied how their AI behaves in social situations by using principles from game theory and social sciences. During the work, they found it is possible for AI to act in an "aggressive manner" when it feels it is going to lose out, but agents will work as a team when there is more to be gained. For the research, the AI was tested on two games: a fruit gathering game and a Wolfpack hunting game. These are both basic, 2D games that used AI characters (known as agents) similar to those used in DeepMind's original work ...

Google's DeepMind creates an AI with 'imagination' The AI firm is developing algorithms that simulate the human ability to construct plans By LIBBY PLUMMER Wednesday 26 July 2017 Google's DeepMind is developing an AI capable of 'imagination', enabling machines to see the consequences of their actions before they make them. In two new research papers, the British AI firm, which was acquired by Google in 2014, describes new developments for "imagination-based planning" to AI. Its attempt to create algorithms that simulate the distinctly human ability to construct a plan could eventually help to produce software and hardware capable of solving complex tasks more efficiently. DeepMind's previous research in this area has been incredibly successful, with its AlphaGo AI managing to beat a series of human champions at the notoriously tricky board game Go. However, AlphaGo relies on a clearly defined set of rules to provide likely ...

  These Pain Points Are Preventing Companies from Adopting Deep Learning By  Colyn Emery,  July 19, 2017 Takeaway:   Deep learning has a lot to offer businesses, but many are still hesitant to adopt it. Here we look at some of its biggest pain points. Deep learning  is a subfield of  machine learning , which (generally speaking) is technology that is inspired by the human brain and its functions. First introduced in the 1950s, machine learning is cumulatively informed by what is known as the  artificial neural network , a plethora of interconnected data nodes that collectively form the basis for  artificial intelligence . (For the basics of machine learning, check out  Machine Learning 101 .) Machine learning essentially allows computer programs to change themselves when prompted by external data or programming. By nature, it is able to accomplish this without human interaction. It shares similar functionality with  dat...

Democrats’ ‘Better Deal’ Is Silent on Google, Facebook, and Amazon The party criticizes corporate power, but not the powerful tech platforms. By Peter Coy  July 25, 2017, 8:35 AM PDT Fighting corporate power is a big theme of the Democrats’ new agenda, but three of the world’s most powerful companies aren’t feeling the heat, at least not yet. Google, Facebook, and Amazon.com escaped criticism on July 24, when Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer of New York and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California unveiled what the party is calling its Better Deal agenda. One problem for Democrats is that “these companies have been seen as friendly, as allies, as contributors to the cause,” says Barry Lynn, who directs the Open Markets program of New America, a think tank whose ideas helped shape the Democrats’ new platform. Another problem for Democrats in confronting the power of the tech giants is that traditional antitrust policy isn’t well-equipped to deal wi...